MONUMENT NO. 418307

Site of a Roman villa east of Boxted Farm excavated in 1882. The remains of a building including tessellated floors, wall plaster and glass were found. Dating evidence suggests a late 1st century AD origin ending in the late 2nd century AD.

To the east of Boxted Farm the plough often turned up debris of Roman buildings. Part of the remains was excavated in the autumn of 1882. The principal discovery was a building 217 feet long and for the most part circa 50 feet wide. The walls were of flint, ragstone and tufa roughly set in mortar and about 22 inches thick. The rooms were mostly small and unpaved. The exterior room ["B" on plan] at the north end of the east corridor was more carefully examined than the rest of the building. It yielded coloured wall plaster, tiles and sherds, including embossed Samian and was considered by the excavators to be the only apartment which showed signs of habitation. Outside its north wall was a rubbish pit with tiles, fragments of glass vessels and of window glass, Upchurch and Castor ware, much Samian ... two bits of white marble, some bronze objects and two small brass coins of Domitian. A hole dug at "A" also yielded sherds, tiles and a bronze stylus. This was not the whole building. About 60 yards eastwards traces of two other rooms were found, one of which contained a tessellated pavement in sandstone and chalk: in it many tesserae, sherds a bone spindle-whorl and a middle brass of Vespasian were picked up. These rooms were thought to be connected with the north end of the excavated building. Further small remains were found in a well, 12 feet deep, 30 yards south west of the tessellated pavement. Other finds in the area included coins of Domitian, Antoninus Pius, Marcus Aurelius and Lucilla. An isolated piece of strong walling, 6 feet long and 4 feet thick, was found to the south of Boxted Farm on the other side of the Upchurch Road and east of Breech Lane: perhaps a bit of boundary wall or outbuilding. The villa may well have consisted of two or more separate structures. The occupation of the site seems to have begun and ended comparatively early. Roof tiles and fragments of tessellation in Maidstone Museum. (2)

Excavation report. The building was in a field called "Earth-pit Field". Excavation commenced September 1882. See AO/58/60/2. (3)

Information as (3). (4)

Excavated 1883 by George Payne. The foundations were subsequently demolished and a bronze pin and 3 Roman coins found there are in the possession of Mr Matthews, master of Newington School. (5-6)

A cheese-press, of sandy red pottery, from the Romano-British building at Boxted is now in the British Museum. (7)

There are no extant remains of this villa but its approximate site was confirmed by the farmer who ploughs up building debris from time to time. The isolated fragment of walling to the south of the farm noted by Victoria County History can still be seen as a soil mark (a) but like the villa site was under crop at the time of visit. There is no record of any subsequent finds. (8)

TQ 8545 6628: Romano-British villa at Boxted included in the Schedule of Ancient Monuments. (9)

KE 92 Listed as the site of a Roman villa. (10)

SOURCE TEXT

( 1) Ordnance Survey Map (Scale / Date)

6" 1908

( 2) edited by William Page 1932 The Victoria history of the county of Kent, volume three

The Victoria history of the counties of England 3 Page(s)106-8, 148, 156

( 3) Kent Archaeological Society Archaeologia Cantiana : being contributions to the history and archaeology of Kent

(G Payne) 1883 15 Page(s)104-7

( 4) Kent Archaeological Society Archaeologia Cantiana : being contributions to the history and archaeology of Kent

Collectanea Cantiana 1893 (G Payne) Page(s)60-7, 69

( 5) Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of London

(G Payne) 1881-3 9 Page(s)357-9

( 6) Kent Archaeological Society Archaeologia Cantiana : being contributions to the history and archaeology of Kent

(G Payne) 1900 24 Page(s)LX

( 7) The British Museum 1964 Guide to the antiquities of Roman Britain